Broadcast Beat Magazine 2017 NAB Show NY/SMPTE Special Edition | Page 76

TIME TO REINVENT MAM:
HOW THE SMPTE INTEROPERABLE MASTER FORMAT
LOWERS COSTS AND INCREASES EFFICIENCIES!
By JAY BATISTA, GENERAL MANAGER,
NORTH AMERICAN OPERATION, TEDIAL
The ability to monetize content is the driving
force behind success, or failure, for today’s media
businesses. New opportunities and outlets to
maximize program distribution seem to become
available every week and success depends on
quick adaptation. Everyone knows how difficult
it is to support VOD, OTT and new services, and
the industry standards committees have been
focused on the problem of interoperability for
decades. The effort to harmonize the Master
Exchange Format (MXF) with the Digital Cinema
Distribution format (DPX) and other international
media exchange formats such as DPP, has result-
ed in a new specification the SMPTE committee
has labeled the Interoperable Master Format
(IMF). Major producers and distributors such as
Netflix and Sony Pictures have already standard-
ized on IMF, pushing their suppliers to meet the
new requirements for interchangeable content.
IMF is basically defined as a distribution media
format built upon tested and deployed standards
that are further constrained to ensure media
interoperability. IMF simplifies content distribu-
tion because:
•
It makes media interoperable - Due to the
76 • Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com
•
specification constraints, the codecs and XML
files describing the IMF package are narrowly
defined to reduce ambiguity in media recep-
tion and distribution.
It makes operations and workflows more effi-
cient - The IMF definitions allow companies
adopting them measurable cost reductions in
storage and device operations. A title with all
the related versions can easily be represented
by logical descriptions rather than physical
versions, thus reducing storage and process-
ing requirements.
To maximize these advantages, Media Asset
Management (MAM) systems need to be able to
offer an end-to-end IMF workflow that leverages
the specifications without overloading processes
with internal conversions or limitations in the
content management structure. New version gen-
eration needs to be managed efficiently to assure
that no media is replicated until required. Different
versions should merely reference the media mas-
ters in unique compositions that include the addi-
tional elements needed for new material, such as
a localized version for the French speaking mar-
ket with text insertions and audio and subtitles in
French; another commercial version with different